His Saving Grace
by Idril Telperien
Summary: Metatron had other plans to steal heaven back. Hidden away in an abandoned Abbey lies an army of Nephilim, created from angels who have no recollection of their children. Unfortunately for Metatron Castiel's child is just as rebellious as her Father and, with a little help from the Winchesters, plans to defeat Metatron and return her Father's grace. Spoilers for Season 8.


**Hey so this is a new story that randomly came to me after the season 8 finale. It might seem a bit weird at first but hopefully its going somewhere interesting so please read, enjoy and review.**

**Sadly I don't own Supernatural or any of the characters. But I did meet some of the actors at Asylum 10, does that count :P Idril x **

**1. Rebellion **

Annabeth watched the sun disappear behind the skyline in the distance. She'd been standing there for some time, perhaps several hours; certainly the sun had moved from a bright burning ball high in the atmosphere to a watery red residue over the sky behind the far away city. She was vaguely aware of the door opening behind her but she didn't turn round; she knew there was only one person who would walk in here without knocking first. She knew the reason he was here, invading her personal space, and quite frankly she didn't want to have that conversation right now. Only because she knew she didn't have a leg to stand on. She'd broken the rules, rebelled against their carefully constructed life that had been created for them here. No, she had no excuse for that so instead it was easier to stare out at the dying red embers of the sunset glowing behind the brick buildings of the sleepy town. She listened to the quiet foot falls of Caleb's feet as he headed towards her bed. He had been trained since he could walk in the art of stealth and hunting: it was only because she had had the exact same training that she heard anything at all. She waited with baited breath for his tirade but it didn't come. He was playing the waiting game. Well two could play and she had hours left before the darkness fell with such ferocity that she'd be blind to the outside world. Hell, she'd even stare into the darkness if it meant Caleb was the first to speak.

"You missed training today." She bit down on the inside of her cheek to stem the smirk that was trying to form at winning the silent game.

"Since I still have all my faculties I really don't need an itinerary of my own day." She snapped back with undue force but turned to face her friend who had made himself comfortable spread across her bed; Caleb's long legs swung backwards and forwards as he waited patiently for her to get out of whatever funk she was in and tell him what was up. They'd known each other for as long as they could remember but that wasn't unusual or particularly special since everyone here had known everyone for as long as they could remember. No one new ever came into the house, hadn't for years. The only people who entered or exited were Metatron and his cohorts. Annabeth sometimes wondered why no one else but her found this strange. Why she was the only one who longed for more than the compound and training for a war and revenge that she had no interest in. Caleb understood her a bit better than the rest of them but he still found her an enigma at times. He met her eyes and raised one pale eyebrow to silently ask his true question "why?" but she didn't answer, just picked at her nails while she tried to figure out quite what to say apart from the snarky response she'd give anyone else. Caleb would never accept it.

"Annie." He whined, trying to repress a smirk as he waited for her to explode over the nickname. The one thing always guaranteed a reaction from his stoical best friend. It would take a few seconds at most before she'd lynch him.

Three.

Two…

"Don't you _dare _call me that. My name is ANNA_BETH. _Anna is acceptable and even bitch works on occasion but _never _Annie." She shook her head at his dirty tactics; he knew she had always had a strange aversion to Annie even when they were tiny children toddling along and everyone thought it was a cute little nick name. Perhaps that was why: Cute and Annabeth had always seemed mutually exclusive. Not that Caleb could talk; he had the brooding looks of someone a human would cross the streets to avoid. If they ever got the chance to see him. His dark grey eyes sparkled in humour as she sat on the end of the bed and whacked him across the leg none too gently.

"It was many and many a year ago in a kingdom by the sea that a maiden there whom you might know by the name of Annabelle Le-eek!" He yelped as she lunged across at him, arms outstretched either to tickle or hit depending on how annoying she'd found his joke. He fought back and they ended up giggling with a flail of limbs and gnashing teeth. Once they stopped to get their breath back Caleb realised he was on top of Anna, his face inches from hers and warm breath brushed against his lips. For a split second he wondered what it would be like a break the rules; to lean down and kiss his rebellious little friend. Then he came to his senses and moved off her, still gasping slightly from their energetic tumble as he pushed his wild dirty blonde hair out of his eyes and watched Anna still giggling as she turned onto her side to regard him with those piercing green eyes that he always found slightly unnerving; as if they could see into his very soul.

"So why didn't you come?"

"Didn't want to. It just seemed… pointless." She shrugged with false nonchalance, lounging back on the pillows next to him on the bed, if she was honest she wasn't quite sure why she had felt like rebelling against the accepted regime today but she had. Yet another reason why she was so different to everyone else here. Everyone else, at least on the outside, seemed perfectly content with the strange life they had built. The regime, the routine was their lives and they never questioned it. But she had always longed for more. She could spend hours gazing longingly out her bedroom window at the street below; watching the comings and goings of the oblivious humans. They didn't even notice the Cathedral sized building housing a couple of dozen Nephilim. But they got to come and go. To see the wide world. To dive into the blue sparkling sea that was just visible from the top spire in their home. The children of the angels never left the Abbey; they trained and studied and prepared for the war Metatron had promised them. Annabeth wanted more; she felt a burning desire inside her to go out into the wide world and find her family. Metatron had sworn that their angelic parents had made sacrifices and given them up willingly to create the perfect army. A boarding school without end. But maybe if her Mother or Father saw her they'd change their mind and take her back. It was a foolish, childish dream that she was sure they had all shared at some point in their childhood: she just still had it.

"They'll be angry, Anna. They'll..."

"Can we drop it? I'll go to the next one." She whispered, fear seeping into her voice at the prospect of their superiors' views on her disappearance.

"So are you going to eat dinner or are you continuing with your little rebellion and going on a hunger strike too?" Caleb smirked coyly and braced himself for the sharp thwack he was sure Anna would provide. Annoying her was the best way to make her smile. Needless to say a pillow smashed into the back of his head a second later and came to land on the floor beside his booted feet.

"I need strength for my _little rebellion_ so dinner is surely a necessity." She smirked before standing up and finding her black boots scattered under her writing desk. She'd recently waxed them and the black leather shone out gleaming. At least she wouldn't get told off for scruffy clothing; there wasn't so much a uniform at the Abbey but everyone wore similar black utilitarian clothing. And they always had to be clean and orderly. Slipping her boots on over her black jeans she grabbed her leather jacket and headed out; taking for granted the fact that Caleb would be on her heels like a loyal puppy dog. The Abbey was what most people would expect from an abandoned Nunnery: large, cold and unfriendly. Despite the fact she'd lived her since she was a baby she never thought of it as home. It was more like a prison.

The dining room however was full of laughter and bubbly conversation as they entered. There were perhaps thirty angelic children sat around two long wooden tables in the centre of the room. Off to the side, beside the door into the kitchen was a line of counters where meals were being lined up as they came through the hatch in the wall. The Abbey had a rotary system for everything: who cooked, cleaned the rooms, cleaned the weapons, wrote up reports. Everyone did their fair share to make the community self-sufficient. Now they were older the handful of angels who oversaw them were starting to take a back seat; the five angels had taught them everything from how to walk to how to hunt demons but now the angelic children were starting to take over. They were readying them for the long awaited war that had been fabled for years but never really expanded upon.

Annabeth grasped for Caleb's hand before heading for the food. It smelt good, it never smelt that nice when her and Caleb were cooking. Thankfully for everyone they were currently charged with cleaning the weapons which they excelled at. Any old human could cook something delicious but really how many could make a gun that could kill angels? She sniffed the steaming plate; trying to work out whether it was lamb or pork mince on the spaghetti, earning her an annoyed glare from Clarice, a short blonde haired girl who was currently floating plates through the hatch and over to the table. _Show off_, Anna thought bitterly. Her and Clarice had never really hit it off, especially after an unfortunate incident when testing out a new weapon she'd created, Anna had managed to accidently singe off Clarice's eyebrow. Perfect shot.

"Just put the damn food in your mouth and sit the hell down." She snarled making Anna smirk before following Clarice's advice and heading for her usual table. She usually sat on the table closest to the door with Caleb and was glad to see her favourite seat at the very end of the table was free. Caleb had already taken the seat beside hers and was making fast work of his dinner. She'd never met anyone else who could demolish an entire plate of food, minus the peas which he beautifully christened _devil's spawn, _in under two minutes in her life. Sometimes she wondered if he even chewed or just swallowed it all whole. Needless to say by the time she sat down and ate her first forkful he had finished and was gulping down a glass of milk in one go.

"I'm not sure whether to be impressed of utterly disgusted." She commented quietly only to have Caleb childishly stick his food covered tongue out at her. "Well that decided it. You're disgusting." He chortled but his laughter died on his lips as his eyes focused on someone behind her. Annabeth took a deep breath, knowing exactly what was about to happen, but she didn't turn round knowing that acting normal would be the best way to get through this.

"Annabeth I'm so glad to see you looking well. I thought something awful must have happened for you to miss training today." The icy voice sent shivers up her spine but she plastered her best I'm-a-good-girl smile on her face before turning round to see her mentor bearing down upon her. Alana was a tall, severe woman with her thick auburn hair pulled into a tight bun atop her head. Her beady eyes and sharp accusing eyes always reminded Anna somewhat of an eagle especially as she grasped her shoulder with thin claw like fingernails.

"Sorry, I uh…" What could she say _I wasn't feeling well? _She had grace, there wasn't much that could be wrong with her. _I had a family crisis? _She had none. _I couldn't be bothered? _Yeah… no. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I think we need to have a little chat don't we? Come to my office after dinner." She squeezed tightly, the claws digging deeper as Anna quietly nodded, her mischievous persona somewhat diminished with the sharp pain emanating from her shoulder. Alana gave a tight lipped smile, a malicious glint evident in her dark eyes, before releasing her painful grip and striding away. As Anna rubbed her shoulder, grimacing at the lingering pain and _knowing _that the bitch had used her angelic power to make it that bit more painful, she noted how quiet the hall was and how many pairs of judgemental eyes were boring into her. Even Caleb, who was even less fond of such attention than her, was staring intently at his discarded peas as if they were about to jump up and do a magic trick. Anna's impending doom had put a dent in her appetite but she knew as soon as she finished she'd have to make the trip upstairs to Alana and quite frankly that was something to put off for as long as possible. She was lost in her own disturbing thoughts but a gently caress of her arm made her turn and look into Caleb's nervous grey eyes. He pushed his plate towards her and she saw he'd made a lopsided smiley face out of them; she burst out laughing and pushed her plate towards him, his gesture giving her the strength to go face the wrath of her superior, hell if she was early she may even get brownie points.

The angelic officers' offices were located on the top floor, there was a running joke that it was because they were closer to heaven, and Anna took her good sweet time walking up the many spiral staircases. Alana's door was the first on the left, a large oak door with a heavy iron handle that still took both of Anna's hands to push open. She knocked, a loud firm knock despite her fears, but she could hear nothing through the wood. Curious she pushed against the door and it opened with a low groan she winced as it echoed off down the corridor but hearing no movement or sounds of investigation she decided to peek around the door into the gloomy room; she'd been in there one too many times for her liking, so she could picture the desk in the far corner of the room and the book cases lined with leather bound tomes, more for display than anything else she guessed, but in all honesty all she could see was darkness. She should have waited outside like any other good angel would have, but the sneaky devil voice inside her taunted her to go inside. The door was open just enough for her to squeeze round and she quietly closed the door behind her before leaning back against the wood to let out the breath she'd been holding. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the gloom and she could make out with ever glowing clarity the grey blurs of furniture at the other end of the room. As she scanned the room she realised she had no plan; what was she looking for? Why was she risking everything to go snoop in a room. And then, then it hit her. Maybe there was some record of her parents hidden here?

Unable to stop herself she practically sprinted across the room and began rifling through the wooden draws. But there was nothing bar an old broken watch: no paper, no stationary, nothing that could lead her home. She was just closing the lowest drawer when she heard voices outside the door. If they found her in here there wouldn't be a scale to measure how much trouble she'd be in so she did the only thing she could; she flung herself on the floor and slipped under the desk. The wooden frame would hide her as they walked in and as long as Alana didn't tuck the chair in too much she wouldn't be found. The only problem would be if Alana decided to stay and wait for her, but she couldn't think further than saving her butt for the next few seconds.

"We should have seen this coming!" Aleric, another of the supervisors, angrily snarled as two sets of feet made their way into the room.

"How could we have seen _this _coming? Castiel was a perfect angel before…"

"Before Winchester? You really think Winchester corrupted him in _hell. _He was corrupted a long time before that." Aleric let out a derivative snort at a joke only he seemed to find funny.

"Well we always knew Winchester would be difficult, no one knew what he was capable of. No one knew that when Castiel laid his hand on him in hell that blackened, twisted soul would corrupt him!" Despite all the times she'd seen Alana angry, and there had been dozens, she'd never heard the sheer unadulterated hatred that coated her voice now. The tone caused Annabeth to shiver even though she didn't have a clue what the hell they were talking about; who, or what, were Castiel and Winchester, and why were they the cause of so much hatred?

"We should have dealt with her then. The moment he turned. We already knew she had one unpredictable bloodline, two was too much."

"Metatron was always certain about their match. Said they were perfect and he knows what he's…"

"And what about now? Metatron's disappeared off the face of the earth and we're left waiting for our rightful places back home. That girl is going to ruin it all! She's different! I've told you all along. If she dared to miss training then what else will she do?" Oh God, _they're talking about me, _She subconsciously curled herself into a tighter ball and tried to quieten her heart which was currently thundering obscenely loudly in her ears. _Please leave. _

"I'll keep her on a tight leash. She's the perfect soldier and we need one of them."

"Please, even locked up here away from her Father's corruption she's turning rebellious. It's in her blood. If she escaped and found Castiel this would all be over." _Castiel. _She finally knew her Father's name. Having a tangible name seemed to change him from a blurred background figure to a smiling man, whose grace resonated with her own, who would beam down on her and keep her safe. Suddenly, stupidly, her current predicament didn't faze her. She would do what they so feared and find her Father. Find a home. If he was as rebellious as they said then he would surely help her liberate the rest of the angelic children. Together they could teach them about free will. She'd practically moved herself in with him in her mind; the warm thoughts loosening her tightly curled body when feet were suddenly upon her. Hastily she pulled back her limbs as Alana flopped graciously into the chair but kept it, thankfully, turned to the side as she continued to focus on Aleric. Annabeth didn't even dare breath. Every minute twitch her body made, every beat of her heart, suddenly seemed impossibly loud in the confined space.

"So what do we do?"

"She's coming here, right?" Aleric asked and Annabeth did her best to remember her training and not flinch as his booted feet came into view.

"Yes, any minute now."

"Then we kill her."


End file.
